Interview: Choreographer Christopher Gattelli Discusses ‘Wonka’

Working on a film like Wonka certainly seems like a daunting task because the first adaptation of Roald Dahl‘s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, is highly regarded as one of the greatest movies ever made, and its timeless nature makes it hard for any film to stand up on the same pedestal. In breathing new life into the character of Willy Wonka (Timothée Chalamet) and honoring what came before, choreographer Christopher Gattelli told Awards Radar on Zoom that it absolutely was a daunting task to come onboard the project:

“I wanted to show my excitement to Paul [King] that I wanted to do it, but I didn’t want to show that I was as excited as I was because it was my favorite movie growing up. It’s my go-to movie for anything. If I’m on a trip somewhere, I just want to put on Willy Wonka because it’s what you do. I couldn’t believe that Wonka was even a thing that was happening. It was also daunting because it was such a special movie to me that I didn’t want to ruin any offshoot of it.”

On working with director Paul King, Gattelli explained that the Paddington filmmaker is “one of the best kind of collaborators in that he absolutely has a vision and knows what he wants. He may not be able to say it’s, it’s A, B, or C. However, as you work and craft things together with him or away from him, and you present things, he’s very specific in his literal direction of what he wants, what story he’s telling, and how the choreography and how the movement played into his overall vision.”

Gattelli also describes the process of working on a movie that blends many musical tones and genres in one package, stating that “these are the most fun projects to work on when you’re not reusing the same style over and over in different ways. This is so much more fun; each one is kind of its own diamond. This one’s a diamond, this one’s a ruby, this one’s a sapphire, they’re all gems in this crown of a movie. I love something like “Scrub Scrub” in the wash house was so much fun to put together and work on with Paul and the editor. There’s “You’ve Never Had Chocolate Like This”, which travels across the city with hundreds of dancers. To have to get to play with all of those different styles was incredible.

I know many people are currently reading about the subject of the movie musical. I keep seeing people going, “Is it a musical?  Is it not a musical? Why didn’t they advertise it more like a musical?” But what I really love about Paul’s vision for this, which I feel is what they also did in the first one, it’s a musical, there are a lot of songs, like “I Want It Now” and “Pure Imagination,” but it really all serves the story. I really love that kind of storytelling because it doesn’t pull you out that you’re that you’re watching a musical even though you are. I appreciate that because it makes my job feel as important as I jump onto a project, follow the director’s vision, and continue that storytelling. It feels very satisfying to me to work on because I feel like I really am part of that part of that journey for the movie.”

During our audio conversation, seen below, we also discussed Christopher’s collaboration with Timothée Chalamet, the process of coming up with choreographies and rehearsing with the actors, and his personal favorite choreography he worked on for the movie.

You can listen to the full conversation below and see Wonka in theatres now.

[Some of the quotes in this article were edited for length and clarity]